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cops recovered my stolen car- update: got it back
Sam
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
the cops recovered a car that was stolen while i was out of the country. i hadn't reported the theft for a year, I was away for a while, I had been in the hospital and then went abroad, partially to seek treatment. I heard from a friend (a) over skype that my car was gone from my parking lot, and my management company hadn't towed it. later on the same friend told me that another friend(b) had heard that a certain person(x), who was entrusted with my mailbox keys (NOT my car key) and asked to put some mail in my apartment, had claimed he had the car key. there was a spare key in the apartment, but i'd forgotten about it and taken the main key with me. the same person (x) later claimed he was joking, in a text message- person b only saw the text message on another person's phone.
i filed a report in september when i got back. didn't expect to hear back, when out of nowhere an officer knocks on my door, telling me to get in touch with a telserv (phone cop) he tells me the car was found abandoned in a different town, some lady who owned a tow lot was applying to get a title for it, when her daughter got pulled over, and the VIN came up as stolen since i had filed the report.
the telserv phone cop asked me everything i knew, like specifically whether i knew anyone who had the keys or anything like that- and i regret sharing that i had heard about how it got stolen when i could have said i didn't know, but I am unpracticed in not being completely honest with cops when taken by surprise.
why wouldn't i want to tell him? if you read how b told a and a told me, you'll see that it would be asking someone to provide hearsay for a felony crime against x, and x knows a, b as well as me, obviously, leaving people open to retaliation and difficulty, especially if the cops can't convict or even arrest x.
also, b told a about what she knew, and did not tell me directly because although b and i are friends, i embarrassed myself last year when i had an intense crush on her and sent her messages i shouldn't have, shortly before i fell ill and was hospitalized, so she wasn't in regular contact with me aside from saying happy birthday on facebook and all that. however, since ive been back, b has been talking to me over facebook message as a friend. (not that it's relevant but I'm moved by this and want to be a genuine friend and not a disingenuous asshole, and I really enjoy talking to her)
b expressed willingness to talk to the cops for my sake but obviously doesnt want to be involved in the situation, AND I DONT WANT her to face the awkwardness/potential danger of being the person to say to a cop that they think x stole the car (she's the only one who could)
so, H/A, please tell me- how to get my car back (would seem simple enough given that i have the title) without having to have my friends tell the cops about this hearsay. the cops said they are treating this as an "unusual" case, and I have no idea what they mean by that.
i filed a report in september when i got back. didn't expect to hear back, when out of nowhere an officer knocks on my door, telling me to get in touch with a telserv (phone cop) he tells me the car was found abandoned in a different town, some lady who owned a tow lot was applying to get a title for it, when her daughter got pulled over, and the VIN came up as stolen since i had filed the report.
the telserv phone cop asked me everything i knew, like specifically whether i knew anyone who had the keys or anything like that- and i regret sharing that i had heard about how it got stolen when i could have said i didn't know, but I am unpracticed in not being completely honest with cops when taken by surprise.
why wouldn't i want to tell him? if you read how b told a and a told me, you'll see that it would be asking someone to provide hearsay for a felony crime against x, and x knows a, b as well as me, obviously, leaving people open to retaliation and difficulty, especially if the cops can't convict or even arrest x.
also, b told a about what she knew, and did not tell me directly because although b and i are friends, i embarrassed myself last year when i had an intense crush on her and sent her messages i shouldn't have, shortly before i fell ill and was hospitalized, so she wasn't in regular contact with me aside from saying happy birthday on facebook and all that. however, since ive been back, b has been talking to me over facebook message as a friend. (not that it's relevant but I'm moved by this and want to be a genuine friend and not a disingenuous asshole, and I really enjoy talking to her)
b expressed willingness to talk to the cops for my sake but obviously doesnt want to be involved in the situation, AND I DONT WANT her to face the awkwardness/potential danger of being the person to say to a cop that they think x stole the car (she's the only one who could)
so, H/A, please tell me- how to get my car back (would seem simple enough given that i have the title) without having to have my friends tell the cops about this hearsay. the cops said they are treating this as an "unusual" case, and I have no idea what they mean by that.
Sam on
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A = Friend who told you about your missing car
B = A friend of a friend who says the person taking care of your mail was in your place
X = Person who was watching your mail, may have stole car
Your car was taken without your consent, this is grand theft no matter what way you try to spin it.
Flat out in my books you are opening a world of hurt to allow this "friend" who you trusted with your keys to continue stealing from you without repercussion. Steal a car and get away with it well then whats a couple hundred bucks that you have hidden...etc...etc.
If you don't want to involve anyone else just tell the police that person "X" had access to your mail as well as may have had access to your home where you kept a spare key. However you don't owe shit to anyone and you can just say to the cops that this person may have heard or seen something while you were gone.
Chance are its "unusual" because it was reported stolen so late after it went missing and that you were gone out of country and yada yada yada. It also might be unusual because they recovered your collection of banana hammocks in the trunk of the car.
Have your locks changed on your mailbox and place as well if at all possible, I'd also start keeping tabs on your credit report.
Also I'd like to just ask, have you looked for your spare key in your home?
You nearly lost your damn car
and stop worrying about how you inconvenience person (b) with saying the truth to the police, you nearly lost the title on your damn car.
Keep tabs on your accounts and all that business, tell the police what you know and seriously reconsider who you give your keys to, this person X sounds like a scumbag
you almost got it all correct. B=friend of a friend, but I can honestly say I consider her a friend today, but whatever. B did not say x was in my apartment- B had heard X say he had the car key, which I didn't give him, it was the spare key that I'd forgotten about. Later, B made another friend of hers (let's call him z) ask x about my car, after she saw that it had disappeared, via text, because z was friends with x while B wasn't, and z showed B the text where x said he was kidding about having the key. Anyone would make the connection that x got the key from my apartment without even having to know that I had given this person my mailbox key and asked him to keep the mail in case i returned after my lease ended, and just place the mailbox key back in the apartment.
i was staying at that apartment that summer (2011) and the lease was due to expire 2 months after I left the country. I had a deposit, which I forfeited since I didn't move out the few things I'd left behind, but I'd paid the rent for the duration of the lease.
i feel like that from person X's perspective it may have looked like I wouldn't be returning and it looked like I had abandoned the car- but he found and stole the key from my apartment before the lease ended, obviously, which means he took steps to steal the car before knowing for a fact that I wasn't going to return that august (2011)
the thing is, if i didn't make it clear- once x gets contacted by the police, in whatever way, he and whoever his friends are will basically be able to deduce that either myself and/or B were responsible for informing the police. therefore there's the possibility of repercussions. The guy was a college student, and I know reality is not like Breaking Bad, but still, the guy fucking jacked a car and managed to either sell it or drive it with no title for a while. who knows what the fuck he's capable of.
who the fuck steals a car from someone they know anyway? see what i'm saying?
plus, B's word is not the same as video surveillance or empirical evidence. meaning he could just be questioned and left alone, leaving myself and my friends to deal with the fallout.
what i'm saying is i think he thought-
"this guy isn't coming back. this car's going to get towed. he's been gone a while. I'm poor. Why let the car go to waste, he didn't reply to my messages"
though i'm not THAT inclined to look at it differently than a normal car theft because he pre-emptively got the car key out of my apartment.
i haven't heard back from the lady, i left her a voicemail, i'm more than happy to reimburse her for work she had done on the car if she produces receipts, I really hope she doesn't try and screw me out of my right to the car, she was in the process of applying for a title for herself. She only had the car since the summer though...and she was pulled over driving it, that's how the cops got it off her.
guess what, they aren't morons and you are a silly goose. I spoke to the same telserv officer WHOM I TOLD (without naming any names) about having heard from friends things about a dude having my key and denying it after the car disappeared. I told him that yesterday. I called him today, and asked him what I needed to do to get the car back, and he didn't mention anything about wanting to hear more about the guy whom I heard had mentioned having the key. I haven't done anything improper at all.
Your best bet was to actually follow up on this ASAP, which probably could've ended this whole thing well before it became this ridiculous situation. Based purely on how you've described your behavior in this thread, it's pretty apparent that you have a pattern of procrastinating and ignoring issues until they become "critical". Long-term, as you can see from this incident alone, that's probably not going to serve you well.
Unfortunately I'd chalk this up to a done deal and move on with your life.
sage advice bro, except the cops took the car from the lady, contacted me and told me i have a legal right to claim the car from the lot the cops sent the car to (not the lady's lot) if I produce the title and bill of sale that's enough to prove my ownership, and to be able to drive it off the tow yard i'd have to register it in my name, which only requires that i take the title/bill of sale to the courthouse in my town, show my license and purchase insurance.
basically there's no reason thus far why i wouldn't be able to claim the car. I was worried about the cops pressing me on details about what i heard my friends talking about, but apparently they're not doing that. Which is good because no one wants to strain a friendship by making someone do something they aren't comfortable with.
but, i'd like to keep this thread open to ask whether i'm vulnerable to any kind of predatory moves from the lady who found the car after it was stolen.
to the person who asked if i'm billing the lady- I definitely want to reimburse her for the repairs the cop told me she said she'd done (fixed the battery and driver's seat window, sounds legit) even if i'm not legally required to, but i don't think she has a right to claim the car for herself, which i don't know if she'll still try to do, and since she drove the car without a title and took the liberty of doing repairs on it, IMO she cannot claim she "impounded" it and can't bill me for the car being on her lot, or towing the car when it was abandoned by a thief at a construction site in a different town while I was out of the country (I had left it in my parking lot and would gladly have dealt with my management company and whoever they would've used to tow it)
I will however have to pay fees by the day starting now (or whenever the cops pulled over that lady and confiscated the car) since the car is being held at a different lot that it was sent to by the cops where it is legitimately impounded.
well, yeah, i mentioned it to the telserv cop and he didn't follow up on it or say that i HAD to divulge the information and send my friends as "witnesses" in order to reclaim the car from the neutral tow yard where it's being held. it's not like i have video footage or concrete evidence. I don't think i'm legally obligated to tell the cops a girl told my friend she saw a text on another person's phone from yet another person who may have joked about having the key while i was out of the country. (intuitively i'd say i'm pretty sure that he stole it, but i don't feel i even have the grounds to formally accuse him if i wanted to and my friends were willing to get involved to the point where they'd basically accuse him based on what they'd seen/heard)
He didn't even disagree with you, you need to chill the fuck out right now.
Can you like, parse out what's relevant to the situation with regards to getting your car back, and write it up again? I'm really sorry, but between the stream-of-consciousness writing and all the crap about your friends friends of friends hacking into your mailbox to get your secret apartment room car key, it's hard to know exactly what advice you're looking for...
tow yard the cops sent my car to will charge per day. i don't think it has been there long.
lady who recovered the car after the thief abandoned it in a different town while i was away owns a tow yard (an unregulated industry notorious for usury) and wanted the car for herself, therefore i'm apprehensive about what she'll try to do (she told the cops she wanted to talk to me and they passed on her phone number, i left her a voicemail and got no reply)
i need to pay those fees at the other tow yard (not the lady's) that's impounding it now, produce my title with registration and purchase/enroll in insurance and renew my driver's license before i get down there and drive my car back taking the highway.
beyond that, i'm concerned about what the lady would want and/or try to do, and whether i'm legally obligated to insist that my friends talk to the cops.
i'm worried about person x in general because people who'd steal a car form someone they know, and not register it, people who'd keep a car that they couldn't and didn't even attempt to legally register, are people to avoid coming into conflict with. keeping a stolen unregistered car is so reckless- even gangsters offload it to a chop shop and get rid of it, or find a way to scam the registration or something.
I fear what other /unconventional/ and reckless things he or anyone he's associated with might be capable of, if they perceive any reason to act against me or whoever they would think told the cops on them.
oh it's morally repugnant what he did. but only B can name his name, and she's expressed that although she'd do it for my sake if it came down to it, she wanted to be minimally involved because she didn't want her name coming up in connection with X, especially if it's not a clear cut case in the sense that she only heard what he said and didn't witness him touching the car or leaving tangible evidence.
as for being unconcerned, I was sick, and wasn't sure when I'd be returning at the time I'd left. I had other things on my mind, like my health. I also had no one I could ask to check on my car, since my friend (A) who told me about it hadn't been in touch with me until we started skyping in january 2012 (the friendship had fallen apart, then was rekindled, 6 months after I left- pretty much the same day we started talking again, my friend (A) offered to go check on the car for me and told me it was gone. I couldn't have asked B to check on the car because like I said, although we talk to each other now, we didn't speak for a while because I'd embarrassed myself with my crush on her.
so it's possible that x could be questioned without being arrested, or arrested and let go, or found innocent after a trial due to insufficient evidence- which I feel endangers me and anyone who might talk about it- X would probably have some idea of who spoke about it, and would definitely know I initiated the procedures against him, leaving me open to both awkwardness and possibly violent retribution.
i really hope this is clear. i wouldn't piss on x if he were on fire. i wouldn't cry if he tripped and fell and had a few bruises. but i fear what he could do, and i want to respect my friends' wishes.
If you want to get your car then get it and move on with your life.
So, I'm going to focus on the stuff related to the car because, well, because.
Priority #1: Gee the car title, registration, insurance, and a driver's license. If you do not have any of these things, figure out how to get them ASAP and follow all of the necessary steps to obtain them so that you can get your car back. If you do not know how to get them, this is a good place to ask.
The only time you should care about Special Lady Who Wants Your Car is if she is getting in the way of this priority (i.e., if she is holding on to your title and refuses to return your calls).
Priority #2: Once you have figured out a timeline for when you can get everything in order to get your car back, figure out how much it's going to cost you until you can pick up your car. It's probably not going to be cheap. If you still want your car after that, contact the impound lot and let them know when you will be showing up. If you can, try to negotiate for a lower rate. It's probably not going to work, but you never know unless you ask.
Priority #84: Special Lady could potentially pop up, but there's a good chance she won't because she has no standing to get anything from you. She spent money on a car that she knew wasn't hers. She has no claim on anything because it's your car. Your offering to pay her for the repairs is a very nice gesture, but is actually unnecessary (and in fact may have opened you up to liability if she saved the message). If she does appear again and does something ridiculous like threaten to sue, get a lawyer and have them work it out. There's another possibility that she may just want to buy the car from you. Given the situation, that's not a horrible option, especially if you can't afford to get it out in a timely fashion anyway. Then maybe you can just, you know, buy another car.
Priority #5,256: Your friend, your friend's friend, and your grandmother's third-cousin-twice-removed are none of your concern any longer. Get over it. If the cops want to investigate them then they will, and there's nothing you can do about it. If they don't investigate it, then you being super secret spy and trying to figure out what they cops are gonna do or if you need to get someone to confess something is a ridiculous waste of your time and energy, particularly since you still do not have your car. Seriously, let it go.
i have the title which is endorsed to me by the dealership, i had a license before, need to get it renewed @ DMV, then I can take the title, license and bill of sale to the courthouse and buy insurance and put it in my name, and ask them for a temporary tag to stick on the car to make it legal to drive. (well i've gotta get the insurance before going to the courthouse)
is 2 or 3 days reasonable for that? fuck me, I've lost the weekend...
i think all in all, the cost of the towing and impound wouldn't exceed the cost of an equivalent car, (car was 4k, and a great deal when i bought it imho) probably not even if I add the cost of reimbursing the lady.
also, it's kind of cool that i could get it back, i mean, it makes me want to drive it.
fees are accruing, but it was only impounded on the 10th, 2 days ago. it's 20$ a day, and a 150 towing fee, so I owe 190 so far, and definitely an extra 40 for the weekend. i need to find a way to try and avoid the total owed ballooning- 20 a day is a reasonable rate but it still adds up. The car was purchased for 4k, and was said to still be in drivable condition, so I think it's worth trying to get the car back if I can pay significantly less than 4k (most equivalent cars are listed at 4.5-5k)
because she owns a tow lot, and probably was the one who towed it from the construction site where the thief left it, and because she is apparently monitoring the situation with the cops and asked for me to call her but didn't reply to my voicemail for 24 hours, and given that there's some weird mysterious hold that they can't tell me details about just yet, i'm wondering what's going on...
perhaps i do think too much.
the tow lady contacts me. seems all nice and friendly, acts like she doesn't want to try to pursue her claim on the title/car, but said that she wasnt sure what she had to do to deal with the slow and inefficient state department (she's across the border, close by but different state) and mentioned that my title and bill of sale might prove worthless if her title application comes through- this seems to not make sense to me (let me mention now that i'm contacting student legal aid first thing in the morning) given that she had the vehicle confiscated from her when she drove it on the road without a proper title, and I believe it's also not kosher to have repairs done on a vehicle you don't have a title in your name in your hand and still claim you were attempting to find the owner and were holding it in a legally neutral sense.
I have no idea what the laws are for declaring a vehicle "abandoned", which would free up the title to whomever registers it next.
Most likely she at least knew it was stolen and thought no one would claim it. I would not speak to her again until advised by at least the student legal folks.
basically, if her story about her titled being approved by her state department is true, she could bleed me for all those fees, or beyond that screw me over in all kinds of ways if she chose to.
edit- if she stole the car, it's kind of unlikely that she'd be the one to tow it from where the thief abandoned it, but i guess anything's possible.
the difficulty is that i took so long to report it stolen
The fact that she's singularly equipped to deal with "misplaced" autos (tow company), I still recommend having as little contact as possible.
Consider:
a) She found a car seemingly abandoned. She owns a tow yard, which means she probably knew in her experience that it was stolen.
b) She towed the car to her lot
c) Let's be honest, she may have checked to see whether it had a report on it, but that's as far as it went. She may not have even done that.
d) Now she thinks car is totally abandoned and *at her own risk*, before the titles is ever approved, she invests her own money into the car.
So sorry charlie, this one was on her. Did she get blindsided by the owner suddenly showing up? Yes, but that does not make you legally responsible for her risk taking by investing into a car that she doesn't own.
I agree with others who say don't say another word to her. Now she's just trying to guilt and scare you into paying her money. Don't do it. I do not know whether you might owe tow fees, but I wouldn't pay storage fees and I most certainly wouldn't pay for repairs.
I hate to say it, but if she doesn't let go at some point (and offering her a token amount may be worth it), you might have to take this to court so the judge can figure out what's right. There's a possibility you might be on the line for towing and some storage (not necessarily all storage), but most certainly not her repairs.